Method for producing a tobacco rod



Sept. 12, 1967 H. KOCHALSKI METHOD FOR PRODUCING A TOBACCO ROI) Original Filed Au 50, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY Sept. 12, 1967 H. KOCHALSKI METHOD FOR PRODUCING A TOBACCO ROD 2 Sheets-Sheet Original Filed Aug. 30, 1965 Fig. 3

INVENTOR M 1/ MAM/5,

Fig.4

ATTORNEY United States Patent 6 Claims. oi. 131-84) This is a division of my application Ser. No. 306,655, filed Aug. 30, 1963, now Patent No. 3,298,376, issued Ian. 17, 1967, entitled, Method of and Apparatus for Producing a Tobacco Rod, which application Ser. No. 306,655, in turn, is a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 826,055, filed July 9, 1959, now abandoned.

The present invention relates to a method of producing a tobacco rod.

It has been proposed heretofore in the production of a tobacco rod, for the purpose of making therefrom cigarettes, to feed cut tobacco onto a rotary disc and to subject the tobacco on this rotary disc to the action of centrifugal force, whereupon the rotating tobacco mass is discharged in a tangential direction from the rotary disc in the form of a rod which is conveyed to the forming device of a cigarette rod machine.

In such a method as just described there takes place a precompression or an initial compacting of the rotating material. However, this conventional method does not always insure the formation of a uniform tobacco mass or, a uniform tobacco rod because it is practically impossible to feed tobacco with a desired degree of umfor mity onto the rotary disc which subjects the tobacco to the action of centrifugal force.

It is an object of the invention to produce a rotating tobacco body or ring of optimum density and to continuously maintain such a rotating tobacco ring by continuously adding loose tobacco particles thereto so that it is possible to seperate (i.e., to sever) from the latter a uniformly densified or compacted rod which remains uniformly compact throughout the course of production, namely, until that time the rod is subdivided into shorter pieces.

It is another object of the invention to form a uniform tobacco rod from a mass of cut tobacco having a predetermined cross section and a uniform density, and to convey this rod toward a cigarette rod forming band.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings which illustrate diagrammatically two apparatus in which a hollow conical or annular tobacco mass is formed by means of two concentrically arranged conical or ring-shaped casings, while the rod itself is cut by means of a horizontally or vertically rotating cutting disc which severs a strip from the base or from the periphery of the hollow conical or annular tobacco mass.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 illustrates a first apparatus in a vertical section substantially as seen in the direction of arrows from the line I-I of FIG. 2;

FIG. 2 is a horizontal section through the apparatus as seen in the direction of arrows from the line IIII of FIG. 1 but with the double cone casing and its drive omitted;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section through a second apparatus for carrying out the method of my invention, as seen in the direction of arrows from the line IIIIII of FIG. 4;

FIG. 4 illustrates the second apparatus in a vertical section as seen in the direction of arrows from the line IVIV of FIG. 3.

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concentric annular walls 1b, 1c. The annular space 1a has a first pair-of sides which are bounded by the annular walls 1b, 1c of the casing 1 and a second pair of sides including an open upper side or upper end and an underside or lower end. The casing is supplied with a stream of cut tobacco particles which are fed through the upper side of the annular space In by the discharge end of a belt conveyor or another suitable feeding means so that the particles of cut tobacco descend in the direction indicated by the arrow 2. The annular bottom 1a of the casing is located beneath the underside of the annular space 1a and has a substantially horizontal helicoidal top surface having a pitch equal to the vertical dimension indicated by a reference numeral 3. The bottom 1a is fixed to a stationary part of the machine. The hollow double conical casing 1 is rotated about a vertical axis and for this purpose is provided with a toothed rim Z which forms part of the means for rotating the annular walls 1b, 1c of the casing 1 in the same direction and which is driven in any desired manner. As a result of the rotation of the hollow double conical casing 1 and the centrifugal force acting upon the particles of cut tobacco which drop downwardly through the open upper side of the annular space 1a, there is formed at the lower end of the hollow double conical casing 1 a tobacco body or ring T which at the end B of the helicoidal top surface of the bottom 1a is continuously cut by a cutter means here shown as a rotary circular knife 4 having a blade rotating about a vertical axis and located in a horizontal plane which is disposed below the underside of the annular space 111. The blade of the knife 4 extends into the rotating body of tobacco which moves in a direction from the upper side toward the underside of the annular space 1a. The severed continuous tobacco rod which has a trimmed or equalized upper surface and a trimmed or equalized undersurface is discharged onto a conveyor belt 5 which feeds the to bacco rod tangentially toward the forming device, not shown. A belt 7, trained around rolls 8, partially surrounds the lower portion of the wall 1c and a portion of this belt extends tangentially from the wall 1c to constitute a side wall for the tobacco rod which advances with the upper stringer of the belt 5. The helical top surface of the bottom 1a is inclined downwardly from the level of the blade of the knife 4 in the same direction in which the walls 112, 1c of the casing 1 rotate, and its lead equals the height of the tobacco rod. The tobacco rod is formed between the belt 7, the lower part of the Wall 1b, and the bottom 1a.

It will be noted that, in accordance with the method which is carried out in the apparatus of FIGS. 1 and 2, the cutter 4 severs the tobacco rod from the leading (lower) end of the annular body of tobacco which revolves in and which moves axially through the annular space 1a, and that the body of tobacco is being maintained by tobacco added at the trailing (upper) end thereof at the same rate at which tobacco which forms the rod is being removed therefrom.

In the just described embodiment of the present invention, the two oppositely arranged side surfaces of the tobacco rod are bounded by the two concentrically spaced inner walls of the casing 1 and the conveyor belt, while the bottom surface of the tobacco rod is bounded by the annular bottom 1a at the underside of the conical annular space 1, and the top surface of the rod is bounded by the knife 4. Obviously, and as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4,

other apparatus for producing a tobacco rod of constant density and uniform cross section may be employed and in such apparatus one side surface of the tobacco rod which faces the tobacco ring is limited by the knife which rotates in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis while the other three surfaces of the tobacco rod are bounded by suitable moving walls, belts or the like. Thus, the method of my invention may be carried out not only with the previously described apparatus but also with an apparatus which is diagrammatically shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawings. This modified apparatus comprises suitable means for feeding a stream of loose tobacco particles and such means may assume the form of a fixedly mounted hopper 101 located above the central portion of a circular disc 102 driven by a motor 103 and rotating counterclockwise in a horizontal plane at but spaced from the lower end of the hopper 101. The hopper 101 delivers tobacco particles at the same rate at which tobacco which forms the rod is being removed from the apparatus. Concentri'cally around the disc 102 and substantially within the same plane is disposed a first annular wall in the form of a flat ring 104, and above and parallel to the ring 104 another similar flat ring or wall 105 is disposed leaving an annular tobacco receiving space :between the two rings 104, 105. This annular space has a first pair of sides including an upper side and an underside respectively bounded by the rings 105, 104 and a second pair of sides including an open inner side and an outer side. A fixed cylindrical wall 106 extends along the peripheries of the rings 104 and 105. A vertical shaft 107 driven by a motor 108 has mounted thereon a pulley 109 and a gear 110 for driving the fiat rings 104 and 105, respectively. The two flat rings 104 and 105 rotate in the same direction as the dis-c 102; it is desirable but not necessary that the rings 104, 105 and the disc 102 be driven at the same speed.

A belt 111 which is trained around rolls 112 engages the peripheries of the rings 104 and 105 moving along at their peripheral speed. A portion of this belt 111 is adjacent to the inner side of the fixed wall 106. Another belt 113 runs at the same speed over rolls 114. The stringers of the belt 113 are located in vertical planes. Parts of the belts 111, 113 and of a further belt 115 guided by a roll 116 together form a chute which is tangential to the peripheries of the fiat rings 104 and 105. The upper stringer of the belt 115 is located in a horizontal plane beneath the adjacent portions of the belts 111, 113. In the tangent plane there is mounted a rotating cutter 117 driven about a horizontal axis by a motor 118 and having a blade which is located in a vertical plane extending into the annular body of tobacco which is formed in the annular space between the rings 104, 105.

The particles of loose tobacco continuously supplied through the hopper 101 and landing on the central portion of the rotating disc 102 are subjected to the action of centrifugal force and are hurled in radial direction through the inner side of and into the annular space formed by the rotating fiat rings 104 and 105 and bounded along its outer side by the belt 111. The cross section of the annular space is larger than the cross section of the tobacco rod to be produced. A part of the so formed rotating annular tobacco body, which is precompressed by centrifugal force, is severed by the rotating cutter 117 and leaves the annular space by being tangentially propelled in the chute formed by the belts 111, 113 and 115. The blade of the cutter 117 trims or equalizes both side surfaces of the resulting tobacco rod because one side surface (which travels along the belt 111) is equalized just before the tobacco rod enters the chute and because the other side surface (which travels along the belt 113) was equalized during the preceding revolution of the rings 104, 105. This will be readily understood since the tobacco which is being separated from the rod (i.e., the remainder of the revolving tobacco body in the annular space between the rings 104, 105) travels along the inner side of the belt 111 and its peripheral surface remains equalized while moving toward and along the belt 113. In other words, in all embodiments of my invention, a single cutter can equilize two sides of the tobacco rod by first trimming one side of the tobacco rod during a first revolution of the precompressed tobacco body and by thereupon trimming the other side of the tobacco rod during the next revolution of the tobacco body.

In the method which is being carried out in the apparatus of FIGS. 3 and 4, tobacco forming the revolving body in the annular space between the rings 104, moves radially outwardly under the influence of centrifugal force and the rod is severed at the outer side of the revolving body. The hopper 101 adds a continuous stream of loose tobacco particles at the inner side of the rotating body so that this body is being rebuilt at the same rate at which tobacco forming the rod is being removed at the outer side thereof.

What I claim is:

1. A method of forming a tobacco rod comprising the steps of forming an annular body of tobacco between a pair of smooth-surfaced revolving walls rotating about a common axis, severing a continuous rod of tobacco from said body in a plane which is substantially parallel with said common axis, and adding tobacco to the remainder of the revolving body substantially at the same rate at which the tobacco which forms the rod is removed therefrom.

2. A method of forming a tobacco rod, comprising the steps of forming between a pair of smooth-surfaced revolving walls an annular body of tobacco having an inner side and an outer side whereby said body rotates about the axis thereof and the tobacco forming the body moves outwardly under the influence of centrifugal force; severing a continuous rod of tobacco at the outer side of the rotating body; and continuously adding tobacco to the inner side of the rotating body at the same rate at which tobacco forming the rod is being removed at the outer side of the body.

3. A method for forming a tobacco rod, comprising the steps of forming a tobacco column between a pair of smooth-surfaced cone-shaped rotary walls to form a column of annular shape in section which rotates about an axis extending through the apex of said cone-shaped walls, guiding the tobacco column at the lowermost portion along a circular surface progressively spaced from the lower edges of the cone-shaped walls forming said annulus, cutting a tobacco rod from said annulus at the point of greatest thickness between said circular surface and the lower portion of said column and at a point diametrically spaced from the axis of rotation of said column and finally discharging the cut tobacco rod along a conveyor pathway tangentially disposed with respect to said column.

4. In a method of forming a tobacco rod, the steps of forming an upright annular downwardly moving revolving body of tobacco having an annular bottom face; cutting said upright annular downwardly moving revolving body at a point adjacent to but spaced upwardly from said annular bottom face during downward movement of said annular bottom face of said body so as to separate from said body a continuous rod of tobacco; and adding tobacco to said upright annular downwardly moving revolving body in the region of the upper end thereof at the same rate at which the tobacco which forms the rod is being separated from said body.

5. In a method of forming a tobacco rod as defined in claim 4, the step of conveying said continuous rod of of tobacco in a direction substantially tangential to and away from said annular downwardly moving revolving body; and confining the thus-conveyed tobacco rod from several sides.

6. In a method of forming a tobacco rod as defined in claim 4, the step of guiding said annular bottom face of 5 6 said annular downwardly moving revolving body of 2,835,297 5/1958 Kochalski. tobacco along an at least partly downwardly sloping heli- 3,074,414 1/ 1963 Dearsley 13184 cal annular path during the downward movement of said annular bottom face of said body. FOREIGN PATENTS 5 184,314 4/1907 Germany.

References Cited 624,871 1/1936 Germany.

459118 s??? i i PATENTS 131 84 SAMUEL KOREN, Primary Examiner.

8 ison 739 397 9 1903 Moesinger 131 66 JOSEPH REICH, ALDRICH M D RY,

2,629,386 2/1953 Kochalski 131-66 10 Examine- 

1. A METHOD OF FORMING A TOBACCO ROD COMPRISING THE STEPS OF FORMING AN ANNULAR BODY OF TOBACCO BETWEEN A PAIR OF SMOOTH-SURFACES REVOLVING WALLS ROTATING ABOUT A COMMON AXIS, SEVERING A CONTINUOUS ROD OF TOBACCO FROM SAID BODY IN A PLANE WHICH IS SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL WITH SAID COMMON AXIS, AND ADDING TOBACCO TO THE REMAINDER OF THE REVOLVING BODY SUBSTANTIALLY AT THE SAME RATE AT WHICH THE TOBACCO WHICH FROMS THE ROD IS REMOVED THEREFROM. 